LIFE'S BETTER IN THE MOUNTAINS

Monday, June 15, 2009

Laurel and Rhododendron on the Parkway

We have had scattered thunderstorms every day for several days. In between storms, we drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to check on the Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron. We weren't disappointed. The Mountain Laurel, while waning is still lovely as the Rhododendron comes into bloom.

It seemed that every time we stopped for a picture, we would be under a cloud cover shooting at a mountain in the sun. Not good lighting for photographs. Thus the closeups of the plants are not as good as if they were in the sun.


This is primarily Mountain Laurel, with a few Rhododendron behind them.







At a slightly lower elevation the laurel is mostly spent and the rhododendron is in full blossom.






The post is a little late today because I have a new laptop and needed to get the proper passwords for email and to register the spyware and anit-virus programs. The operating system is Vista and I have heard there have been some user problems. When I started to send a test email message, I clicked on the spellcheck icon. The computer informed me it didn't recognize the language. A quick search led me to a screen declaring that there was a "bug" in the email spellcheck that occurs when the first email is sent. I had to go in and list any language OTHER than English. After applying that, I could go back into the tools and change the primary language to English. Doesn't give me a lot of faith in the new system, but I'm willing to give it a try.

29 comments:

Cedar ... said...

The rhody's are beautiful. I've never seen mountain laurel and I'd love to be there to see the blooms. RE: Vista,.. I've had it for 1.5 years now and no major problems. For some reason i can't access a few things but I think that's more to do with firewall settings. However, I can't see as it's any better than XP. Good luck!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I've never seen either of those in bloom. It looks heavenly.
Good luck on the new computer!

D.K. Wall said...

We are enjoying all of the blooms as well.

As for Vista, I went MAC at home and love it. Makes me gripe every time I turn on my work computer.

robin andrea said...

Whenever you post these amazing vistas of North Carolina, I am struck by how stunningly beautiful it is there. So lovely.

Good luck with your new computer.

Janie said...

The flowers with the smoky blue mountains in the background are just gorgeous.
I have vista and I haven't had any more problems than the usual ones of figuring out a new system.
Hope you get it all set up satisfactorily.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Carolyn, Great photos of the laurel and rhodies. I love being at Craggy Gardens when the Rhodies are blooming.

You probably know this since George and I have both talked about it--but we are MAC people and would never go back to windows (for reasons like you stated)... The Mac's are so USER-FRIENDLY.

GIVEAWAY on my blog--today only!! Pass the word.

Have a great evening.
Hugs,
Betsy

KB said...

The flowers are gorgeous, especially the rhodadendron. We don't have them here (as far as I know), but I remember them from my childhood on the east coast.

Cicero Sings said...

We've had scattered thunder storms the last few days too. Quite a good one this afternoon in fact. We got at least a little rain out of it. Helped dampen the garden! Also got 10 more roots of asparagus planted and a few more potatoes.

Cicero Sings said...

P.S. ... I'm a MAC person too and would never go back to a PC. Even D is convinced and has a Mac now.

Anonymous said...

The rhody's look great; pity the blooms are almost done at this point.

Anonymous said...

They're beyond beautiful...!

Hmmm. "Southern Midwestern" IS a different language! You betcha, y'all! LOL!

Rudee said...

The storms in the Blue Ridge Mountains are always impressive. Evidently, so are your late spring flowers.

Vista is the reason I bought a Mac. I'll never go back to windows again, but I wish macs weren't so pricey. Next time, I think I'll buy a refurbished mac.

Kelly said...

...beautiful, beautiful.....the color of the flowers mixed with the color of the mountains is stunning. I traveled through North Carolina this weekend. I love how they have planted poppies and other wild flowers along the interstate. It is very beautiful in the mountains as well. We were closer to Asheville.

Jayne said...

Just gorgeous, the native bloomers!

troutbirder said...

Ah mountain views and beautiful flowers the perfect combo....
As to these techy problems - Yuk I hate them.

Carol Murdock said...

Wnderful pictures Carolyn!!
Send some rain my way??

Dog_geek said...

The wild rhododendrons in our woods are just getting ready to start blooming, while the ones planted next to our house finished weeks ago. There's lot of mountain laurel around here, too, but not much in our woods, unfortunatly. I've got to go to the national forest for that!

Coffee with Cathy said...

Gorgeous! I can practically smell that wonderful mountain air. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Shelley said...

Those Rhodoendron are such pretty flowers! I hope you get your computer problems worked out. I have Vista too and have had a few problems - but they've all worked out thus far!

Twisted Fencepost said...

It's been a long time since I've seen mountain laurel. Beautiful!
Thanks for posting these pics!

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

I better be getting to the parkway again eh?!

Dawn Fine said...

Beautiful photos..I love it there in those mountains! Need to get back there!
I was wondering about Vista..I know some people changed back to XP..
hope it works for you!

Leedra said...

The photographs are beautiful. Did you say they are current? The question is...are the Rhododendron in bloom now?

I have Vista. Anytime I ask my son a question he tells me my problem is Vista. After adjusting I think it is ok, but it really is different.

Tina said...

Beautiful pictures and those mountains look so inviting. I can see why you like to drive up there! Wonderful vistas! wow!
I'm a mac owner and love it while the hubby is a pc person and constantly complains about his dell!

Mary said...

I dread new computers and all the fuss about getting them going. Good luck!

Your mountain photos are so nice - reminds me of the rain in the W Va mountains :o)

As soon as I get home from work every day, the clouds come and the skies start spitting rain. Hmmmm.

NCmountainwoman said...

Thanks for commenting, everyone.

Cedar - I agree that it definitely not an improvement over XP. It seems more cumbersome, requiring more key strokes to accompish the same tasks.

Thundering - I should have looked at MAC. I've always used PC because files were compatible with work. Now that I'm retired, I could have definitely had a MAC.

Janie - Encouraging that Vista is working fine for you. I'll keep plugging along on the learning curve.

Betsy - We also love Craggy, but the nearby slide and other work on the Parkway make it very difficult for us to get there...plus, there is hardly any parking. Perhaps next year.

Cicero - I do believe I will become a MAC person with my next computer purchase.

Rudee - As I read more comments I could kick myself for not looking at MACs. Live and learn, I suppose.

Kelly - Yes, aren't the flowers along the interstates beautiful? Hope you had a good time in our neck of the woods.

Shelley - It's encouraging to hear someone who is managing all right with Vista. Especially since I'm stuck with it for a while.

Wanderer - Yep, I'll bet the areas at Boone's elevation are just about peak. I should think Roan Mountain would be gorgeous about now.

Dawn - I certainly haven't given Vista enough of a chance yet. Hopefully it will be fine.

Leedra - Yes, the photographs were taken last week, so the rhododendron should be at or near peak in many places.

Tina - Your comment is very telling. You love your MAC and your husband yells about his PC. I think Vista has changed a lot of minds of dedicated PC users. But I'm not ready to go back and install XP.

Ruth said...

Your pictures make me want to visit your mountains right away! Beautiful!
Vista is without a doubt the worst OS I have ever had. My computer is 2 years old and some days I have wanted to throw it out the window. Good luck!

George said...

When I lived in Black Mountain we used to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway every year about this time. It's absolutely beautiful.
I was sorry to hear about the problems you had with Vista. You do make me happy to be a Mac user, however!

1000 Goldens said...

That is so beautiful! What a nice place to live :)